Ridgewood teen charged in anonymous threat against high school

RIDGEWOOD — A 17-year-old village teen has been arrested for making an unspecified, anonymous threat against the high school, authorities said.

In an email sent home to parents on Wednesday, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein said the threat, made Tuesday evening through a Smartphone app known as Yik Yak, was eventually “deemed not credible” and that the person responsible was in police custody.

The teen has been charged with third degree terroristic threats, said Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke. He has been released.

According to a village official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the teen had threatened to bring a gun to the high school.

After being notified of the threat by a parent on Tuesday, school officials issued an alert and said that there would be a higher police presence at the school on Wednesday to “ensure the safety of our children.” An investigation by school officials and police led to the source of the threat, made on the popular Smartphone app that lets users post comments anonymously.

Other details were scant, but a joint statement issued Wednesday afternoon by Ridgewood’s police Chief John Ward and Fishbein affirmed the village’s students were never in danger.

“As this is an ongoing investigation we are only able to confirm that the poster has been identified and we are proceeding with a joint investigation between the school and police department,” the statement from Ward and Fishbein reads.

“We would like to make clear that the village takes any potential threat to the safety of our children very seriously and will employ all resources to ensure their safety,” the statement adds.

Yik Yak officials cooperated in the investigation, providing police with an Internet protocol address for the phone from which the threat originated, officials said.